When did being pregnant become a disability?

[guest940422]

Full disclosure, I've never been pregnant... that being said everyone I've ever met has been. Once upon a time working with pregnant co-workers meant they couldn't go into radioactive rooms or take care of patients with chicken pox... at some point they may need more bathroom breaks, no sweat.

Now somehow I can't get through a shift without hearing about how pregnancy is making poor Susie suffer at 14 weeks gestation (give me shelter).

I'm sure it sounds ****** but if you can't do your job, get light duty orders from your doctor. We have full benefits.

We already have to work short staffed for 3 months while you are on maternity leave... don't half ass everything for 9 months before that and make us pick up the slack on top of it!

Today I tried to call report to the ICU while I was pulling my patient off the table in IR. The nurse told me she needed me to have a transporter meet her in IR to push the bed back to ICU for her because she is pregnant and can't push it herself.

We have self-propelled motorized beds, it's harder to push a shopping cart at the supermarket. I took the patient expecting to find a woman due any day now and was greeted by a young, healthy, girl who was barely showing.

I wish this was an isolated incident, but it's a growing trend and among hundreds of examples where women expect others to do their work for them because some of us take birth control and some of us don't.

There is no reason in the world a healthy pregnant woman cannot perform her work duties (baring obvious exposures). There is no reason in the world why an unhealthy pregnant woman should be at work in a damn hospital.

Thanks

[RNKPCE]

No I hadn't and I've worked with many travelers. Thanks for the reply.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

She either needs a better pump or she is milking it (no pun intended) for all it's worth.

[neonn965]

If you can't steer a bed, you certainly can't turn a vented ICU patient Q2, pull someone up in bed, do chest compressions, lift heavy objects, or many of the other physical tasks required of an ICU nurse in a large metropolitan hospital. So you shouldn't be working at the bedside.

There is a difference between transport and the other items on your list. It is completely reasonable that in the face of somewhat limited physical abilities you would perform the tasks necessary to provide safe and life sustaining patient care and then seek help for the other tasks that are more easily outsourced. It's not about can or can't, it's about trying to reasonably limit the physically demanding portions of the job.

Beyond that, I really don't understand why this particular situation makes you so upset. You did not have to work harder. Unless I am not understanding correctly, she was requesting that a transport team member (i.e. not you) help her transport the patient. That seems perfectly reasonable regardless of all other factors involved. What am I missing?

Lastly, the point has already been made but I just feel the need to reiterate how laughable it is that you are angry at the new mother for utilizing her legal rights and taking maternity leave leaving your unit "short". Meanwhile the hospital has the ethical responsibility for the sake of patients and staff to staff appropriately during a leave of absence and yet they repeatedly fail to do so while the nurses on the unit are left to eat **** and work their asses off. For someone so well spoken it shocks me that you took this stance.

ETA: I have really appreciated your thoughtfulness to read all responses and reassess some of your viewpoints. Not often that happens on a public discussion board, haha.

[KarenMS]

I'm not even reading the comments before responding. I've been pregnant twice, my second child gestated in Zofran until delivery, and you know what? I felt disabled. I was nauseated all the time. My life couldn't stop though, I had to keep going to work. I'm so lucky I had amazing coworkers who jumped in to do my lifting. And I always paid it forward to pregnant coworkers after that. No, pregnancy is not a disability per se, and plenty of women get through it with no side effects and they glow and all. But I was sick and needed help.

[KarenMS]

Pushing a bed around without help isn't exactly the foundation of a nurses job description.

Maybe if they were a transport tech it would be.

Right? I'm not pregnant, but I did call my shift leader for help with transport the other night because the beds are really hard to steer alone!

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I was on intermittent FMLA during my last pregnancy. I'd been in the ER 3 times, hospitalized for 4 days the first time, overnight another time, and was on home health services (IV hydration and getting stabilized on the subcu pump) for 3 weeks, so my HR automatically initiated intermittent FMLA. I missed 3 nonconsecutive weeks in one month after sporadic absences the month prior. When I did start back to work, still wearing my pump, I went 3 months without missing a day or even calling out sick. I still got a low score on my annual review for attendance and dependability, which made me mad because it was completely out of my control. By the time I reached 36 weeks I'd been in the L&D 3 times with premature contractions and was finally put on bed rest. My FMLA ran out when my son was 6 weeks old, my short-term disability ran out then, and I was physically exhausted so I chose to not return at that time. The thing to remember with FMLA, whether it's intermittent or continuous, is you don't get paid while on it! Working in asthma/allergy, I've had to fill out intermittent FMLA forms so pts can leave work one hour a week to get their allergy shots, or for severe asthma pts with frequent flare-ups.

The boss who gave you a low score should be horse-shipped. And have some sickness of her own just for good measure. I hope you appealed the score.

[JBudd, MSN]

The thing to remember with FMLA, whether it's intermittent or continuous, is you don't get paid while on it! .

I was out for around 7 months, with surgery and cancer treatments, I used my accumulated leave the entire time, although towards the end I was only submitting the minimum number of hours to keep my health insurance active.

They tried to tell me I hadn't worked enough hours in the previous year to qualify for FMLA. Short something like, 40 hours. I asked, did you count the 48 hours I just did a few months before on jury duty? Because the hospital paid me for it! (union contract). I did not willing miss those hours, I was required to by law. They tried to say no, but I raised a stink as did my director and manager, and HR gave in.

[guest940422]

Question--if she hadn't been pregnant and just said she needed you to bring the stretcher for her, would it have been a big deal?

You're right, It wouldn't have been. I bring people patients up or go get them a lot (even when I really don't have time). I know I have the luxury of only being responsible for one patient at any given moment. I have 4 more stacked up in pre-procedures which is why I call ICU before the patient comes off the table in hopes of timing their arrival to keep from slowing down the flow. A lot of the ICU patients are on pressers and the IR nurses give sedation and circulate. Not all of us have ICU background. The ICU nurse is expected to stay with the patient during the procedure. I don't make them stay unless the patient is really unstable. I think that added to my irritation. But I can't expect someone to read my mind. Instead of getting huffy, I should have asked her to come down and monitor the patient while she waited for escort, then gone to get report on my next case.

Doesn't FMLA let the job be filled and you give an equivalent one to the returning FMLA user?

I've never worked in management, but in my experience anyone who has been on FMLA has their position held. Ive had managers say they are applying to add additional positions to the budget during hiring freezes while people are out on fmla. So that makes me believe their specific spot is still theirs

Good point - after full disclosure, who would sign up for that? I feel sorry for her, though - chronic stuff is a nightmare. I am sure she would rather be well.

We've gotten transfers before and not known they were on IFMLA, when they apply for transfer the unit they are coming from can't disclose it. It could cause the unit they are applying to to discriminate based on a disability.... you know... sort of like I was doing

Just curious what is a "guest staff member in the icu"?

Travel Nurse, I guess in that moment I was trying to make my measly almost-12-years of nursing experience sound impressive. Instead of just blowing off an ignorant comment, I went off on a childish narcissistic angry rant... not my finest hour.

I'm not even reading the comments before responding. I've been pregnant twice, my second child gestated in Zofran until delivery, and you know what? I felt disabled. I was nauseated all the time. My life couldn't stop though, I had to keep going to work. I'm so lucky I had amazing coworkers who jumped in to do my lifting. And I always paid it forward to pregnant coworkers after that. No, pregnancy is not a disability per se, and plenty of women get through it with no side effects and they glow and all. But I was sick and needed help.

I'm sorry you went through that, I understand you not reading the comments. The long and short of what you missed is I was talking about the population of women who aren't having any of these symptoms but still want to do less. This was me venting at the end of a rough day and it was never my intention to piss off the better part of the nursing community. I did, however, learn a lot from the 70ish subsequent comments and my perspective has grown because of it. If anything, this experience has made me take a hard look at the way I treat/view/judge my peers.

If you do decide to go back and read the comments, I beg you to please try not to judge me too harshly for some of the things I wrote... again not my finest hour.

[Wuzzie]

Gary Ray you have responded in the most mature way to being skewered than I have seen in a long time. That says much about your character and I'm sure I would enjoy working with you.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Travel Nurse, I guess in that moment I was trying to make my measly almost-12-years of nursing experience sound impressive. Instead of just blowing off an ignorant comment, I went off on a childish narcissistic angry rant... not my finest hour

Okay, this made me laugh and decide I really like you.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

This was me venting at the end of a rough day and it was never my intention to piss off the better part of the nursing community. I did, however, learn a lot from the 70ish subsequent comments and my perspective has grown because of it. If anything, this experience has made me take a hard look at the way I treat/view/judge my peers.

This has been a great discussion. We all need to remember that sometimes you just can't tell how people feel by looking, or we don't know their struggles. I don't look "sick" or "disabled" on the outside, but now I understand why people are not always compliant with BP meds; they make me feel like crawling into bed and never getting up! I spend my days in a state of exhaustion. I can't wait to get off of these meds in a few months. This has given me a lot of perspective, and I am grateful that I developed a pregnancy-related heart condition from which women commonly recover (when it's caught early or diagnosed properly). I just remember the spoon theory: But You Dont Look Sick? The Spoon Theory

Gary Ray, you're a keeper. :)

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

You're right, It wouldn't have been. I bring people patients up or go get them a lot (even when I really don't have time). I know I have the luxury of only being responsible for one patient at any given moment. I have 4 more stacked up in pre-procedures which is why I call ICU before the patient comes off the table in hopes of timing their arrival to keep from slowing down the flow. A lot of the ICU patients are on pressers and the IR nurses give sedation and circulate. Not all of us have ICU background. The ICU nurse is expected to stay with the patient during the procedure. I don't make them stay unless the patient is really unstable. I think that added to my irritation. But I can't expect someone to read my mind. Instead of getting huffy, I should have asked her to come down and monitor the patient while she waited for escort, then gone to get report on my next case.

I've never worked in management, but in my experience anyone who has been on FMLA has their position held. Ive had managers say they are applying to add additional positions to the budget during hiring freezes while people are out on fmla. So that makes me believe their specific spot is still theirs

We've gotten transfers before and not known they were on IFMLA, when they apply for transfer the unit they are coming from can't disclose it. It could cause the unit they are applying to to discriminate based on a disability.... you know... sort of like I was doing

Travel Nurse, I guess in that moment I was trying to make my measly almost-12-years of nursing experience sound impressive. Instead of just blowing off an ignorant comment, I went off on a childish narcissistic angry rant... not my finest hour.

I'm sorry you went through that, I understand you not reading the comments. The long and short of what you missed is I was talking about the population of women who aren't having any of these symptoms but still want to do less. This was me venting at the end of a rough day and it was never my intention to piss off the better part of the nursing community. I did, however, learn a lot from the 70ish subsequent comments and my perspective has grown because of it. If anything, this experience has made me take a hard look at the way I treat/view/judge my peers.

If you do decide to go back and read the comments, I beg you to please try not to judge me too harshly for some of the things I wrote... again not my finest hour.

How refreshing! We are living in times where it seems NO ONE ever wants to admit they could be wrong about anything. Thanks for showing that isn't completely true.